Chapter 302
I was at a loss for words. Only a stupid stutter tumbled out of my mouth.
“That’s… I mean.”
I briefly gathered my thoughts and asked.
“…Are you saying you’re going to become a super Artificial Intelligence?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
Prezen Meredith readily admitted it.
His appearance somehow looked like gray ash, and he was so detached from all things that he no longer even cared about his own death.
Strictly speaking, Prezen Meredith was my enemy. Aside from his pitiful backstory, he was the culprit behind all the terrorist incidents that had occurred in Mirror Castle.
All the past hardships that I and the others had suffered would not have happened if not for him.
Even so, a corner of my chest ached with an inexplicable frustration, and I spoke with a frown.
“You’re going to finish the third stage of the experiment that the Family tried to perform on you, with your own hands, even though you’ve already escaped the Family’s grasp?”
“There are two points in what you just said in what you just said. First, escaping the Family’s grasp is not important. Meredith is nothing but a puppet anyway. That is the reason why I ruined the Family but do not hate them, and the reason why even now, having become the Family Head of a fallen Family, I cannot dare to guarantee that I have thrown off my shackles and found freedom from them…”
Prezen’s vacant gaze gazed beyond. He observed the outside of the innermost part with his cloudy lens eyes, then smiled faintly at whatever he saw and spoke.
“They are coming just in time. Two of them, from different directions. They must have noticed what happened as well. How swift…”
“They’re coming? Who?”
“The two most powerful merchants. The candy merchant and the weapon merchant. The candy merchant will try to protect me, and the weapon merchant will try to eliminate me.”
It was a metaphor that anyone who wasn’t a fool would understand. The candy merchant was Valentine, and the weapon merchant was Militia.
The world’s first and second-ranked Megacorps that ruled Dusk City had lifted their heavy rears and mobilized their troops to secure Prezen Meredith.
Prezen Meredith was an existence with that much value.
“…”
Even knowing that turning back was a distant dream now that I had come this far, my heart suddenly sank.
These were super-massive dinosaurs whose weight made it inevitable. The expression of A Shrimp Caught in a Whale Fight couldn’t be more appropriate than this.
Valentine was one thing, but Militia… I knew the day would come when I’d have to face them head-on, but I didn’t know it would be today.
Prezen read my expression and spoke.
“You do not need to worry too much about them. This is my business, and this is my Exhibition Hall, so what kind of artist would stand by and watch a precious audience member be harmed by Uninvited Guests? Have we not already made a deal?”
The deal between Prezen and me.
Prezen had agreed to help me and the other Schneider Family Members escape from Mirror Castle, and in return, I promised to watch his artwork’s completion to the very end.
But if I were taken out by the Uninvited Guests, the deal would inevitably be broken. I wouldn’t be able to watch until the end, nor would I be able to escape.
Therefore, Prezen had to protect me to keep his promise. That was what he was saying.
I could understand up to this point.
However…
“How?”
Just how was he going to protect me from those Megacorps?
Prezen spat out something completely unexpected instead of answering the question.
“Come to think of it, I did not mention the second point.”
The second point? I had to think for a moment before I understood what he meant.
“What I am trying to do is not the third stage of the experiment. The third stage is already finished. And it was a success. It was not even that difficult compared to what I had thought.”
The third stage was the fusion of Raver and Artificial Intelligence.
What did it mean that it was finished?
Behind Prezen Meredith’s small, frail doll’s body, a pale white border rose like a halo.
No, it wasn’t a simple border. Within the three-dimensional space behind what looked like a flat surface, astonishingly intricately intertwined nerves and electricity, circuits and equations took on the shape of an artificially created brain.
An energy body that caused a chain of writhing like an explosion in real time, its shape and size transforming tens of thousands of times a second.
It was closely connected to a Raver, as if they had been one body from the very beginning.
The inhuman ascetic process of what was originally one being split into two and then reattached seemed vividly visible.
“…!”
I felt dizzy from seeing too much in a short moment. Was this also due to the Enhanced Cognitive Ability caused by the influence of the microchip?
Prezen Meredith’s voice could be heard.
“I have already finished the fusion. I… have become the most powerful Artificial Intelligence in the world, at this current point in time, excluding superintelligences.”
The research of the most powerful Megacorp and Meredith had already borne fruit.
“Now only the final fourth stage remains.”
It was obvious what the fourth stage, which hadn’t even existed in the first place, would be.
The research was over, but Prezen Meredith didn’t seem to have the slightest intention of stopping here.
* * *
“It would be comfortable if I stopped at the point they wanted. If I just did as I was told as an obedient asymmetric power, I would be able to live a prosperous life without worries or concerns under the Megacorp’s protection.”
But if I had intended to do that, I wouldn’t have come this far. They are the ones who created me, but isn’t the greatest virtue of a creation to go Cocktail mixing beyond the creator’s expectations?”
“It is a funny story, but the Family abused me so much… yet cherished me at the same time. The Former Family Head, Elaine Meredith, would occasionally visit the Exhibition Hall. When I was very young, there was a time when I felt the kind of bond toward her that humans might feel from their parents.”
…Did she feel sympathy for me? Or was she paying attention to managing me, the only suitable candidate, in order to avoid making other scapegoats? It could be the latter, but it could also be both.”
“I killed the Family Head. It is the same as my having killed her. Interestingly, Elaine seemed to have known it would turn out like this… Like me, she predicted the end of Meredith that would come someday.”
Both of our memories were heavily covered by the Progenitor. It is not strange that our thoughts connected in the final moment. So… what I committed might be close to a kind of self-murder.”
“By succeeding to the Family Head position, I inherited that many more additional memories. It became an opportunity for my resolve to become even firmer. Progenitor Meredith, who created the current hell, was, if you think about it, a noble person. Not only did he dedicate his life to the survival of ravers, but he also offered an unbearable price - his own descendants - and regretted it for the rest of his life. He endlessly agonized over a way to set things right.”
The art and revenge I am carrying out… they are all mine and simultaneously the Progenitor’s. I feel that there is nothing bad about it, from a position where it is already difficult to distinguish between me and the Progenitor. Since I started all this, I should be the one to put an end to it. Is that not right?”
Whether the Megacorp’s troops were dragging their feet or not, the given time was more ample than I thought. There was enough leeway to sit on the floor and listen to every word of Prezen’s story.
But nothing can last forever.
“It is time. They are coming. They are almost here.”
“What are you going to do? …What should I do?”
“As I told you, you just need to watch, because this is my artwork.”
With completion just ahead, Prezen Meredith asked me.
“Just one last thing… How was my artwork guide? Did you like it?”
“Yeah.”
“That is a relief.”
After my short answer, Prezen Meredith took a deep breath as if relieved.
At the same time
KABOOOOM - !
The alloy wall of the secret vault tore open in an explosion.
Dozens of enhanced soldiers armed with semi-exoskeletons and head visors equipped with laser aiming sights stormed in from one side.
All of them were Special forces members with a modification level of 5 or higher. All of them were worthy of being called a military in their own right.
The text written on their suits was truly familiar.
'MILI-TAC'
It was a situation where Mili-Tech Special Tactical Unit Members appeared and scrutinized me and Prezen Meredith with brutal red light mechanical gazes.
Dry saliva naturally slid down my throat from the tension.
This wasn’t my first encounter with MILI-TAC. The memory of running into them while playing Hero with Dragon President came to mind.
If there was a difference from back then, it was that Dragon President wasn’t by my side this time. That felt truly huge.
The Mili-Tech Special Tactical Unit Members who were heading straight this way suddenly halted.
Vrrrr -
This time, the floor, not the wall, opened automatically.
In that nerve-wracking moment, the newly appeared individuals were as relaxed as if this were their own living room.
As if they, not Prezen, were the Family heads or direct Family Members of Meredith, they leisurely revealed themselves as a group inside the secret vault, riding a disk-shaped elevator structure.
They were fewer in number than MILI-TAC and felt less disciplined.
Their outward armament didn’t look that impressive, and their attire varied wildly, not unified in exoskeleton power suits.
However, an intimidating aura that was no less than, or perhaps even greater than, the Mili-Tech Special Tactical Unit Members could be felt.
Just like MILI-TAC’s, their logo was short and concise.
“Section 5”
One Mili-Tech Special Tactical Unit member spat out his words.
“Security section 5…!”
If it was a Megacorp in the world’s highest ranks, it was bound to have an armed group symbolizing its force.
If Militia had MILI-TAC, Valentine had Security section 5.